Young Sherlock Holmes_ Fire Storm - Andrew Lane [73]
If he hadn’t kept Matty’s knife, if his friend hadn’t told him to hang on to it, then he wouldn’t have had any way out. He would be dead by now.
On such trivial things survival can rest. The thought made him feel uneasy. He looked at Rufus, who was also injured, and wondered if he felt the same.
It took half an hour, and two wrong turns, before they were back at the park near Princes Street.
‘Right,’ Rufus said. ‘Where now?’
Sherlock looked at Matty. ‘Do you want to tell him?’ he challenged. ‘After all, we worked it out.’
‘Nah.’ Matty smiled. ‘You go ahead.’
‘They’re hiding in a place called Cramond. I’ve looked on the map, and I know the way. It’ll probably take us an hour or so to get there.’
‘We’ll grab some food first,’ Stone said, ‘and clean ourselves up. I don’t know about you lads, but I’m starved.’
After they had done both, Matty purloined a scarf from somewhere, and Sherlock used it to cover the marks on his neck. Then, with Sherlock directing, Rufus steered the cart out of the city. It took a while to get past the houses and out into the countryside, and for the first half-hour or so Sherlock was aware of the dark shape of Edinburgh Castle looming over them, perched on its massive crag of rock. The low grey skies matched Sherlock’s mood. What had started as an adventure to find his friends now seemed like something much darker and more unpleasant. There were people out there who wanted to hurt Amyus Crowe, that much was sure. The question was, why? But whatever the reason, it looked as if Sherlock had unwittingly led them right to him. All he could do now was to get to Amyus Crowe before his enemies could work out where he was.
Sherlock looked back along the road as they moved. He was looking for carts or carriages or horses keeping their distance but not dropping too far back. He couldn’t see anything, but he felt that he had to do more to identify possible followers. Twice he got Rufus to pull off the road and hide the cart behind a barn for twenty minutes while he carefully watched every vehicle and rider that went past. He didn’t recognize anyone, and nobody looked confused at the fact that the people they were following had suddenly vanished.
At one point, while they were waiting, Sherlock leaned across to Rufus. ‘I thought you might have been taken by the Paradol Chamber, back on the train,’ he said.
‘Why would you think that? We haven’t seen hide nor hair of them since Moscow – apart from that attempt they made to have you diagnosed insane and locked away.’
Sherlock grimaced, remembering. ‘I thought I saw Mr Kyte at Newcastle Station. He was standing behind a pile of luggage, and he was staring straight at me.’ He paused, aware of a tightness in his chest. ‘I thought maybe the Paradol Chamber had decided to take some kind of revenge against us for messing up their plans. I think they still want to get even with me, and with you.’
‘Be that as it may,’ Rufus said, shrugging, ‘I didn’t see Mr Kyte on the station. If I had, I would have taken that great red beard of his and shoved as much of it as I could as far down his throat as I could reach. Take my advice, Sherlock – never trust a red-headed man, or a red-headed woman. They’re born for trouble.’
‘Virginia has red hair,’ Sherlock pointed out.
Rufus turned to fix Sherlock with a warning expression. ‘In that case, my friend, you have a problem.’
Uncomfortable at the way the conversation had turned back to him, Sherlock said quickly, ‘What do you think these people want with Mr Crowe?’
‘The same thing you seem to think the Paradol Chamber want with us – revenge.’
‘But what’s Mr Crowe done to them?’
‘Amyus Crowe is a complicated beast,’ Rufus replied. ‘On the one hand he’s civilized and fair-minded and very genteel. On the other . . .’ He paused. ‘Let’s put it this way – I think if we knew more about Mr Crowe’s past we might not like everything we found.’
‘He told us that he used to be a spy for the Union against the Confederacy during the War Against the States,’ Sherlock protested. ‘And after that he was responsible for